Ashes to ashes: Burials turning earth friendly

Erica Bryant • Staff writer • May 19, 2010

When it comes time for Art Trimble to go to his final resting place, he has no desire to take toxic chemicals and non-renewable materials along with him.

Art Trimble of Brighton, a member of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Greater Rochester, led the effort to get the newly opened Bluebird Meadow Green Burial section in White Haven Memorial Park in Perinton. (ANNETTE LEIN staff photographer)

So Trimble is pleased that White Haven Memorial Park recently became the second cemetery in New York to offer a Green Burial Council-certified green burial section.

Bodies buried in this wildflower meadow at the Perinton cemetery must be placed in a simple shroud or a completely biodegradable coffin without a vault. They may not be embalmed, cremated or treated by any other means that would use toxic chemicals or fossil fuels. No fertilizer or pesticides will be used to maintain the space, which is home to nesting bluebirds in the spring and will be mowed once a year.

"We're already damaging the so badly that an opportunity to be buried without polluting the ground we are buried in is a very good idea," said Trimble, a member of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Greater Rochester.

Last year, he led an effort to lobby local cemeteries to expand green burial options. Facing limited choices, people from the Rochester area had been purchasing plots in Greensprings Natural Cemetery near Ithaca. This cemetery is the only other one in New York to be certified by the Green Burial Council, which describes itself as a "nonprofit working to encourage environmentally sustainable death care." Joel Rabinowitz, the executive director of Greensprings, said that the cemetery has had 350 sales from all over the state since opening in 2006. Whitehaven's green section has had one burial since it opened last month.

Green burial is hardly new. "The Jewish people have been doing it for over 5,000 years," said Jarrod Krieger, owner of Brighton Memorial Chapel, an exclusively Jewish funeral home. Krieger says that the Jewish religion forbids embalming and Jewish coffins should be made completely of wood, with holes at the bottom to help the body be reabsorbed into nature. Britton Road Association, which operates two all-Jewish cemeteries in the Rochester area, typically receives an untreated body in a pine box. Unlike nearly all other local cemeteries, it does not require a vault for bodies.

Environmental concerns are joining religious considerations as a reason for people to opt for simple burials. Scott Meeson, managing partner of Vay-Schleich and Meeson Funeral and Cremation Chapels, says that he has seen a growth in interest in environmentally friendly burial options. "It all depends on what the family wants," he said, mentioning the possibility of formaldehyde-free embalming fluids, wicker caskets or biodegradable urns for ashes.

The majority of Americans still choose burial but about one third opt for cremation. A 2008 study done by international engineering and environmental consultancy group GHD based in Australia found that cremation has a greater initial negative impact on the environment because of the air pollution that it produces. But the study found that over the long run typical contemporary burial techniques will destroy more of the earth's resources because of years of burial plot upkeep, including the use of fertilizer and fossil fuels for consistent mowing.

White Haven president Andrea Vittum agrees that traditional lawn burial isn't great for the environment because of the maintenance. "You have to use pesticides to get rid of the grubs and herbicides to get rid of the dandelions," she said. "If we can continue to find different ways of making burials that can leave the land in its natural state, it really addresses concerns that people have."

Funeral Consumers Alliance of Greater Rochester President Marcella Klein said that her research shows that green burial is the most ecologically friendly of all of the options. And it can save money. "We hate to see people waste a fortune that's going to be buried underground," she said.

A green burial plot costs $2,150, compared with $1,250 for an average plot in White Haven Memorial Park. The cost is more because the space needed for the grave is almost doubled. "A body is a substantial entity," said Vittum. "It needs enough room for nature to take its course." Families can save money by not embalming or purchasing an expensive vault and coffin.

David Doser, funeral director and owner of Doser Funeral and Cremation Service, said it costs about $700 for embalming and $750 for a cave-proof vault. Though perhaps more people are taking an interest in environmentally friendly burial options, he says the trend can't really be called new.

"People are going back to the way that it used to be."

EBRYANT@DemocratandChronicle.com